Dan's P.O.V.
It took a couple of minutes for Jay to adjust to having the leg on. The nurse had showed her how to put the prosthetic on and do up the buckles and had got her to try it herself, which she seemed to have picked up okay but she seemed very reluctant to stand up on her own.
"Do you want some help Jay?" She nodded, looking right over at me with almost scared eyes.
I stood up and took her hands, allowing her to slip to the ground and onto her good leg and try to balance herself. She looked a little surprised at the feeling of the prosthetic on the ground and although she was still rather unbalanced she seemed to pick up standing rather quickly.
"That's good, you seem to be pretty good at this." The nurse was watching Jay as she stood very tentatively, trying not to lean on her prosthetic too much but not enough to walk. "I'm going to need you to put your leg down, it's gonna help you walk sweetheart."
I felt her slowly shift her weight to her right leg, the one missing, but yelped when she put more weight onto the plastic, jolting back to her left leg. I saw her bite down on her lip, almost drawing blood and she gripped onto my hands with a lot of force, trying not to tip over.
"Alright, easy, easy, it might be easier if we go into the physical therapy area, they've got bars where people learn to walk, it'll give you more balance." Jay nodded, her face white and still biting down on her lip.
Phil came up behind me and then took my place holding Jay's hands before he wrapped his arms around waist and scooped her up over his shoulder. With one of Phil's hands across her back and the other supporting her legs Jay curled her head into Phil's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Even from where I was standing, walking behind them as we followed the nurse down the hallway, I could see that Jay's eyes were closed and her arms were slowly slipping down. I knew that she wasn't asleep, just resting her eyes and relaxing, but it was nice to see her allowing us, especially Phil, close again.
I had noticed the way she pulled away from us, the way she wouldn't let us close when she woke up screaming every night, the way she would stare out the window for hours. She didn't allow us to touch her, pulling her hands away if we tried to reach for something near her, and it was hard.
I wanted to hug her, I wanted to hold her and tell her it was all okay but she wouldn't let us. It was hard for us to have her pull herself away from us but Phil and I had grown even closer, if that what possible, over the time that Jay was at home and we were together basically 24/7.
"Okay, this is the physical therapy room." The nurse pushed the door open and I saw a mostly empty room with what looked several weight machines and some waist high bars that were to help people to walk.
Phil placed Jay down near them, still hugging her to his chest as she wasn't really standing up on her own, mostly just wobbling in place with her eyes still closed.
"Jay? Do you want to try again?" She opened her eyes, still clinging onto Phil, but sighed, nodding her head.
"Sure... I guess."
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Two hours later we were in a taxi heading back home, Jay still wearing her prosthetic, although she was holding crutches to help her. After two hours in the physical therapy room she was able to put the full weight of her body onto the prosthetic, even though it was rather gingerly and not without flinching.
She hadn't got to taking any steps yet and the nurse had said it could take up to a year before she was walking normally, and even then it wouldn't quite be the same as she had lost one of her knee joints. The nurse said that walking up and down the stairs would be especially difficult and not to push her to try it too early, and just to get her taking steps first.
Jay seemed to be taking it okay and seemed to know that it would take a long time before she was up and walking again and we hadn't seen any particularly bad signs. In fact, she seemed to be getting better in terms of allowing us close again.
As the weeks went by and the bump on her stomach grew more visible, so that we could see it when she was wearing any t-shirt with thin material or a tight t-shirt, she had become more affection. It turned out that she liked hugs, a lot, and would sometimes just stand behind me and hug me as I stood at a bench.
I wasn't sure what the future would hold, in terms of the child she was carrying. We had talked to the doctor at the hospital and he had thrown out the idea of terminating the pregnancy to save Jay and us the pain and trouble of a child but we hadn't mentioned the idea to Jay, not knowing how she'd take it.
We knew we'd have to ask her soon, as she was already almost 3 months pregnant, but it seemed to be a bit sudden, after being only a few weeks since we found out.
"We're home guys." As we pulled into the driveway, at roughly 3pm by my watch, I saw a car in the driveway and lit up, knowing exactly who it was. It was Louise.
Jay's eyes were looking at the car, I didn't think she recognised it until we saw Louise step out of the car and wave at us. I paid the driver and then got out of the car, helping Jay get her feet on the ground before turning to Louise, smiling. She had her eyes on Jay, who was still using her crutches to get around.
"Bloody hell, that was fast."